If they listened closely enough, the Kings could hear the other shoe drop on the Ducks’ season, barely audible beneath the sound of music pumping through the visitors’ locker room at Honda Center.

It has been evident since the beginning of March, when the Ducks stumbled out of the Olympic break with five straight losses, that the Stanley Cup playoffs would not visit Anaheim this year. But it did not become official until Tuesday, when the Kings’ 5-4 shootout win punctuated a night when their rivals were eliminated from postseason contention for the first time since before the NHL work stoppage in 2004-05.

Somewhere in the midst of the Kings’ comeback from a 3-0 deficit, the Southern California playoff torch was passed up the freeway, continuing the tradition of two franchises that have never made the playoffs in the same season.

While that makes for a good storyline, Anze Kopitar, who scored the game-winner in the third and final shootout round, said eliminating the rival Ducks wasn’t on his mind.

“We didn’t think about that at all,” he said. “We’re trying to get ready for the playoffs.”

For 30 minutes Tuesday night, the Kings, who clinched their first playoff berth since 2002 two days earlier, did their best to convince a split-loyalty crowd of 16,278 at Honda Center they were not ready for prime time.

Jonathan Quick allowed three goals on the first eight shots by the Ducks, who were outshot by a 2-to-1 ratio. His night ended when Kings defenseman Randy Jones, after taking a routine drop from Quick behind the net, inexplicably tapped the puck to an onrushing Bobby Ryan, who promptly scored into a vacant goal.

But in a do-or-die situation, after Teemu Selanne’s second goal of the game made it 4-1, the Ducks seemed to relax their hard-hitting approach. A third-period goal by Michal Handzus, with goalie Erik Ersberg on the bench and 1:09 remaining in regulation, sent the game to overtime tied at 4.

After coming on in relief of Quick, Ersberg barely lifted a finger until the extra period, when the desperate Ducks put seven shots on goal – more than they had in any of the first three periods. Ersberg stopped them all, and allowed only Corey Perry to score in the shootout before stopping Selanne and Saku Koivu.

Kings defenseman Jack Johnson scored in the second shootout round against Curtis McElhinney (36 saves), and Kopitar scored in the third to seal the victory. Ersberg won for just the fourth time in 11 career shootout appearances.

“It didn’t look that we were coming back after their fourth (goal),” said Ersberg, who made 12 saves prior to the shootout. “I’m really happy we turned it around and got the two points that we really deserved tonight.

“I think we just kept going and eventually we got the goals. We didn’t panic at all. We just kept going, trusted our system and trusted our team.”

On an off night for Quick, the Kings in turn gained trust in Ersberg, who had not won since Dec. 9. Jonathan Bernier was summoned from the minors to backstop the Kings’ two previous wins against Nashville and Vancouver.

After the Canucks game, Kings coach Terry Murray reiterated his faith in Quick, and he did so again Tuesday night.

“The handoff play is the responsibility of more than the goaltender, the defenseman – there has to be some more communication on that one,” Murray said. “I just didn’t think (Quick) was as sharp as I’ve seen.”

For the Ducks, their postseason hopes technically ended about a minute before the result became official. That’s because Colorado, the current eighth-

place team in the Western Conference, defeated Vancouver, 4-3, putting the final playoff berth mathematically out of the Ducks’ reach, win or lose.